Hello! I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've updated. I intend to update much more frequently. However, I would like to say that it's very difficult for me to know what you guys want to read, or even if you want to read this, if you don't give me feedback. So, please, please, leave me feedback! Reviews, PMs, smoke signals, even! I will take any kind of feedback from you guys. Like, I would be okay if one of you left a burning bag of dog crap on my front stoop, so long as there was a PostIt on it saying "I disliked the most recent chapter of Tug."

Anyways. New chapter below, hope you like it.

Loki's PoV

Loki arrived on the bitterly cold surface of Jotunheim and felt no more at home there than he ever had on Asgard. The temperature was more comfortable, perhaps; if he stayed for more than a few minutes, he might find that he didn't need to consume oceans of frosty water all day long just to keep grogginess, nausea, and fainting at bay.

He quickly made his way to Laufey's throne room, but had barely laid eyes upon his father – and wasn't that strange, to be a monster on the inside, to meet your real father and not have him know your face – when he said two words that made Loki feel instantly familiar with the king:

"Kill him."

"After all I've done for you?" Loki asked, peering up at his real father, forcing a courtier's smile.

Laufey's face showed no emotion, masterful, secretive. "So you're the one who showed us the way into Asgard."

The snow whispered with him, repeating his words, and the icy voice sounded like one Loki had been hearing for a long while.

"That was just a bit of fun, really. To ruin my brother's big day. And to protect the Realm from his idiotic rule a while longer." Loki had known that Thor would be banished for reigniting the quarrel between Jotunheim and Asgard, had known that, for whatever reason, his recent drunkenness would put the Realm at risk.

Besides. He had work to do, a larger plan at play.

And that plan's fruition required Laufey's help.

"I will hear you," the Jotun king said, and Loki bloomed with satisfaction.

"I will conceal you, and a handful of your soldiers, lead you into Odin's chambers, and you can slay him where he lies."

"Why not kill him yourself?" Laufey asked.

Because last night, he said he loved me. "I suspect that the Asgardians would not take kindly to a king who had murdered his predecessor."

Laufey smirked, as if it were funny that murder was not the intermediary link between kings.

"Once Odin is dead, I will return the Casket to you – " even though she speaks to me, even though she wants me, me, me, no one ever wants me but she does " – and you can return Jotunheim to all its... glory."

"I... accept."

Laufey's PoV

Once the Aesir princeling had left, Laufey rose from his throne and found Farbauti.

"You said someone had come to visit, someone from Asgard. Was it her?"

Laufey shook his head. "Her son."

Farbauti's face fell. "Then perhaps the letter came from him, too." She stepped into Laufey's space, arms tight around him, and tucked her head down beneath his chin. "I had so hoped – "

"As did I, beloved. But we have made do without her all these years, and her son means to restore our power. All is not lost."

Farbauti nodded sharply, and Laufey was struck quite suddenly with love for his queen, for her impossible control, for her ability to push past distractions and disappointments and get things done.

"I love you," he said, kissing her forehead.

"And I you."

Loki's PoV

As he arrived back on Asgard, the temperature difference left Loki stunned, if only barely. Before even looking up, he could feel those fluorescent eyes on him, and said, "What troubles you, Gatekeeper?"

"I turned my gaze upon you in Jotunheim, but could neither see you nor hear you. You were shrouded from me, like the Frost Giants that entered this realm." As always, Heimdall was unreadable.

"Perhaps your senses have weakened after your many years of service," Loki taunted.

"Or perhaps someone has found a way to hide that which he does not wish me to see."

Loki approached, roundabout and dawdling. "You have great power, Heimdall. Did Odin ever fear you?"

"No."

"Why is that?"

"Because he is my king, and I am sworn to obey him."

"He was your king." Loki turned to face Heimdall head on, eyes hard. "And you're sworn to obey me now. Yes?"

Heimdall's silence stretched for far too long before he assented.

"Then you will open the Bifrost to no one, until I have repaired the damage my brother has done." With that, Loki left, much on his mind. It was nearly an hour later when, as he faced out over the Realm that was, impossibly, now his to command, he saw the Bifrost activate, and a sharp stab of fury pierced his heart.

From the balcony, he made his way to the Armory and stood before the Casket, blocking out her whispers and pleas to awaken the Destroyer.

"Make certain my brother does not return," Loki commanded, the dull whine of the Destroyer's power cells filling the air. "Destroy everything."

From there, he made his way to Heimdall's post, fire in his eyes as soon as they caught sight of the Gatekeeper.

"Tell me, Loki," the Gatekeeper began, "how did you get the Jotuns into Asgard?"

"You think the Bifrost is the only way in and out of this realm? There are secret paths between the worlds to which even you, with all your gifts, are blind. But I have need of them no longer, now that I am king." Loki tightened his fist on Odin's staff, steadying himself. "And I say, for your act of treason, you are relieved of your duties as Gatekeeper, and are no longer a citizen of Asgard."

"Then I need no longer obey you," Heimdall said, drawing his massive broadsword and making to attack.

Loki withdrew the Casket from where he had concealed it and listened to its whispering, obeyed its sussurations, and unleashed the cold of Jotunheim's soul on him, freezing Heimdall in his tracks.

From there, he made his way to the throne room and filled the Destroyer with his gaze, to properly watch the battle and control the carnage:

The man in the black suit – ostensibly the leader of the rest of the suit-clad drones – approaches, speaks: Hello. You are using unauthorized weapons technology. Identify yourself.

Something else, too quiet to hear. Then fire.

There are more people a mile or so forward, so go forward. Fire, fire, fire.

For warriors advance, pretty warrior woman disappears. Tiny red-haired man comes flying forth – Volstagg, always susceptible to pranks, always unkind, don't like him, don't like him – swing fist at him, send him flying back. Fire, fire –

Blade through neck. Hurts. Turn around – pretty warrior woman, satisfied face.

Loved her. Loved her, loved her.

Fire, fire, fire. She jumps away, flees, Fall back!, leaves spear behind. Stupid, stupid – never leave weapon behind.

Fire, fire, fire. Warriors scattered, damaged, bleeding.

Good.

Tiny blond one runs out, too fast to burn, pretty warrior woman runs away from where he hid –

Sif's PoV

Everything hurts. The last time the Destroyer was used in battle, Sif was a newborn, still in swaddling.

She always cried too much then; even now, weak weak weak weak, her eyes are stinging and wet.

Thor crouched before her, grabbed hold. Even like this, fragile and finite, his hands were warm, and Sif's mind – foolish, weak – flooded with memories of the two of them in bed with Loki, the three of them sharing warmth.

"Sif! Sif, you've done all you can," he said. He was panting, gasping for breath. Mortal, painfully, visibly so.

"No. I will die a warrior's death. Stories will be told of this day." Perhaps my little one will hear them, hear that I was brave and strong. Perhaps that will be the story he tells.

"Live," Thor pleaded, "and tell those stories yourself."

He cupped her cheek. He smelled the same, felt the same. This was the Thor that Sif trusted implicitly, the Thor who had earned that trust through years of secret keeping.

Sif's hand found its way to his, squeezing it, feeling the fragile bones shift beneath the slightest pressure, and her eyes shut themselves tight.

All of this is wrong.

"Now, go!"

Sif ran.

Destroyer!Loki's PoV

– tiny blond one finds other three warriors, they all run.

Everyone runs.

Tiny tiny tiny one stops, everyone stops.

Tiny blond one approaches.

Thor.

Love him, love him, love him – he hurts, though. Not stable. Don't trust, never trust, he stopped.

He stops, speaking, listen now, he's saying something. He's sad.

Brother, whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am truly sorry. But these people are innocent –

Cold voice: Kill him kill him kill him –

Taking their lives will gain you nothing –

Kill him kill him KILL HIM –

So take mine, and end this.

Thor's PoV

The Destroyer's fire flung one of the many lumps of metal that seemed to line every walkway over his head, and Thor ducked and ran, narrowly escaping it.

Battle was so much more frightening like this.

He ran to Fandral and Hogun's aid, helping them to right Volstagg. "You must return to Asgard. You have to stop Loki."

"What about you?" Fandral asked.

"Do not worry, my friends," Thor said, smiling. "I have a plan."

Granted, if completed, it would be his last, but this seemed a good end.

Everyone else began to make their way back, and Thor dropped his shield, strode towards the Destroyer, Loki's puppet now.

It kicked one of those vehicles aside, clearing its line of sight, and then, knowing that nothing could interrupt Loki's view of him, Thor began to speak.

"Brother, whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am truly sorry. But these people are innocent. Taking their lives will gain you nothing. So take mine, and end this."

The fire in the Destroyer's mouth died, and it turned away, only to swing its vast hand at Thor, sending him flying.

Thor landed, pain blooming along his spine, and suddenly, Jane knelt beside him, patting him down. "It's over," he wheezed.

"It's not over," Jane argued, shaking her head, voice thin.

"I mean, you're safe." It struck Thor – this was what being king would have been. Perhaps, he could have been a good one.

"We're safe." Jane nodded, encouraging him as one would a child.

"It's over." I am so tired. I have done my best. I have done all I can. I wish to rest now.

Thor closed his eyes.

"No!"

Jane was crying, but it sounded so far away. Thor wished she would stop. She was too kind to be so sad.

But then the thrumming began, and Erik yelled, "Jane!" and Jane yelled, "No! No!" and suddenly, nothing hurt.

Before he knew it, Thor was on his feet, in his armor, Mjolnir in hand, swinging as his father had taught him, and within seconds, the Destroyer was dust.

Erik grinned, almost childishly, face split wide; Jane just looked at him as if she wasn't quite sure he was real. "Is this how you normally look?"

Thor grinned. "More or less."

She began to nod. "It's a good look."

"We must go to the Bifrost site. I would have words with my brother."

"Excuse me!"

It was Son of Coul, stepping out of one of the rather impractical vehicles that seemed almost more common than mortals on Midgard.

"Donald. I don't think you've been completely honest with me," Son of Coul said, almost jesting.

This was not a time for jokes. "Know this, Son of Coul: You and I, we fight for the same cause – the protection of this world. From this day forward, you can count me as your ally, if you return the items you have taken from Jane."

The old Loki would have wanted that.

"Stolen," Jane bit out.

"Borrowed," Son of Coul protested. "Of course, you can have your equipment back. You're gonna need it to continue your research."

It was Jane's turn to smile like a little one, almost bouncing with glee.

Thor turned to her and asked, "Would you like to see the bridge we spoke of?"

"Uh, sure."

Thor grabbed hold of her, clutching her tight, and took flight.

They landed at the site, and Thor called to Heimdall, but what seemed like ages passed, and the bridge did not open to them.

At long last, the gate opened, and Thor gave Jane a steady look. "I must go back to Asgard, but I give you my word: I will return for you." With that, he kissed her knuckles. "Deal?"

She kissed him.

She kissed him.

"Deal."

And then he was on Asgard, and Heimdall was laid out, wounded, unmoving. "Take him to the healing room. Leave my brother to me."

Loki's PoV

"Welcome to Asgard."

Was it to please Laufey, Loki wondered, that he pitched his voice lower, tightening his throat so his words came out rough and dark?

It did not matter. Laufey did not matter. Not anymore.

The plan had changed. Or, rather, his mind had, shifting and warping. Odin's words weaving in and out of the voice's – which king was he meant to kill?

Loki waited moments, mere moments, but with no time to spare, he fired once at Laufey's broad back, sending him to the floor. "And your death came by the son of Odin."

And then his father, his true father, was dust.

But that didn't matter anymore. Did it? Odin would love him when he awoke for destroying the Jotun king, destroying their whole kingdom. Frigga would love him for saving Odin.

Everything would be alright.

Wouldn't it?

"Loki!" Frigga ran to Loki, embraced him, squeezed tight. "You saved him."

"I swear to you, Mother, they will pay for what they've done today."

And then Thor bellowed, "Loki," and Frigga let Loki go like a fish too small to feed on.

"Thor! I knew you'd return to us!"

Thor didn't even hold her with both arms, didn't even experience her hug as if it was truly important.

Loki's insides felt as if they'd gone to rot.

"Why don't you tell her," Thor began, stalking forward, every inch a threat, "how you sent the Destroyer to kill our friends, to kill me?"

"What?" Frigga turned to him, turned on him, and Loki felt, quite suddenly, very small.

"Why, it must have been enforcing Father's last command."

"You're a talented liar, brother, always have been."

By the Norns, he is Odin incarnate. No need for drink to have him hate me.

"It's good to have you back," Loki said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to destroy Jotunheim." With that, he sent Thor flying through the walls, then ran to the stables.

"Sleipnir," he said, near to begging. "Sleipnir, it's me, it's Mumma. Please, talk to me."

Nothing. Sleipnir was mute.

Loki's eyes burned, but he pushed onward, straddling his son's back and riding off to Heimdall's outpost, opening the Bifrost and then freezing Heimdall's broadsword in place, locking the power in so that it might build and build, swelling until it popped like a grape and turned all it touched to dust.

Thor alighted on the bridge and looked at him, shocked. Disgusted.

Loki was disgusted, too.

"You can't stop it," he spat, eyes glistening. "The Bifrost will build until it tears Jotunheim apart." He fired on Thor, sending him to the floor.

"Why have you done this?" Thor asked. No curiosity in his tone, no hint of him seeking to understand. Perhaps he knows, too, that I am a monster. That, more than ever, I must earn my place in this family.

"To prove to Father that I am the worthy son. When he wakes, I will have saved his life. I will have destroyed that race of monsters. And I will be true heir to the throne."

"You can't destroy an entire race!" Thor argued.

And he was right. No matter how filthy Loki knew his blood was, he could never kill his children. They might be Jotun on the inside, but they didn't look it. They were safe.

But every other fleck of Jotun scum?

Easily disposed of.

"Why not? And what is this newfound love for the Frost Giants? You, who could have killed them all with your bare hands?"

"I've changed."

"So have I." Loki made an aborted swipe with Odin's spear, scratching Thor's cheek. It was so hard, attacking the brother who had so often been his only friend. Loki could only hope that Thor had no such qualms. "Now fight me."

Another swipe, this one with the butt of the staff, sending Thor flying.

"I never wanted the throne!" Loki roared; only half-true. Loki never wanted the throne for the throne's sake. He wanted to protect those he loved, and the throne was the easiest way to do that.

Thor struggled to his feet.

Loki strode towards him, ready, fierce. "I only ever wanted to be your equal!"

Thor's PoV

With those words, Thor was taken back to when he'd first begun training with Mjolnir. Loki, small, frail, had wished so desperately to use it, to be Thor.

Had this madness been brewing in his little brother for so long? Had he really been so blind as to not see the slightest hint of it?

"I will not fight you, brother!" Thor shouted.

"I'm not your brother," Loki hissed. "I never was."

"Loki, this is madness."

"Is it madness? Is it?"

He was twitching, eyes red, wild. Thor was certain that, if he touched Loki, he would find burning flesh. How strange was it, to know one's enemy so intimately, to know when they were running themselves in circles, grinding away their own sanity in the wake of their panic, their fury, their fear?

"Is it?!" He was shaking now, visibly, trembling like a child. "Come on, now. What happened on Earth that made you so soft?"

Thor began calculating, trying to figure out the safest way to bring Loki down, how to stop this without hurting anyone. Was there time enough to find Sif, for both of them to bring Loki to his chambers, cool him down, care for him, soothe this frantic fit away?

"Don't tell me it was that woman!"

Thor shifted, memories flashing behind his eyes, distracting him: Jane, fascinated, tracing her delicate fingers over his clumsy sketch of Yggdrasil; Jane, sleeping, fair face soft; Jane, kissing him – why did she do that?

"Oh?" Loki's eyes began to overflow, and Thor was shaken out of his reverie by the sight of tears leaking down that beloved cheek. "Well, maybe, when we're finished here, I'll pay her a visit myself!"

Jane was small, perhaps even for a human, and fragile. For all the world, she reminded him of Loki when he was young. He would not let Loki, mad as he was, furious and dangerous, near his friend.

Loki launched himself at Thor, and Thor began to fight back in earnest. Sparks flew through the air, and they flew through the wall, out onto the Bifrost, and Loki dangled off the bridge, still shaking, still crying, still hurt.

"Brother. Brother, please..."

Thor knelt to pull him back from the precipice, only for him to vanish in a blur of green, another green flash covering the whole bridge with Lokis, all laughing hysterically.

"Enough!" Thor fired a thunderbolt up into the air, and the doppelgangers disintegrated, leaving only the true Loki, sprawled on his back, gasping for breath.

Thor laid Mjolnir on his chest and advanced on the Bifrost.

"Look at you," Loki rasped, "The Mighty Thor, with all your strength – look at you now, huh? Do you hear me, brother? There's nothing you can do!"

Thor summoned Mjolnir and did the only thing that came to mind: breaking the bridge.

"What are you doing?" Loki shouted. "If you destroy the bridge, you'll never see her again!"

"Forgive me, Jane," Thor whispered, delivering the final blow. Everything went white, until Thor saw Heimdall's outpost plummeting into the Void, Loki clinging to the staff that dangled from his hand. He could feel his father's hand keeping him from disappearing into the Void, too, and he had never been more thankful.

Loki, tears streaming freely down his cheeks, looked desperately between the two of them. "I could have done it, Father! I could have done it! For you! For all of us."

Loki's PoV

It was all over. It was all over.

"No, Loki."

Nothing he could do would ever be enough. He knew that now.

"Loki, no," Thor begged.

Too late. Thor knew, now, what he was. They all knew.

You are nothing, wasted your chance, could have done it, no son of his, no son of anyone's, worthless nothing, nothing, NOTHING –

Letting go of that staff was the easiest thing Loki had ever done. Falling into the Void was like going to sleep, and, like so many other times, as he drifted into darkness, he heard Thor whispering, so far away.

"Loki, no!"

The big black hole at his back took a greedy gulp, and Loki was gone.

Maybe they could all be happy now.

Thor's PoV

Loki let go. How could he do that? Why would he do that?

"Loki, no!"

Behind him, Odin said, as quietly as possible, as if throwing the word away: "No."

The black hole, fringed with Casket of Winters blue, closed itself like a grave, like a mouth. Loki was gone forever.

Sif's PoV

That night, there was a great feast, and all celebrated. Thor stood, leaving the table after a few brief minutes of revelry.

There was no need that he saw to celebrate, not with Asgard closed off from every other realm. Not with the person he had loved most, out of everyone he'd ever known, dead, having taken his own life, swallowed up by the Void, never to even be given a proper burial.

Sif met his eyes as he passed, sorrow touching sorrow, and she rose from the table in his wake, offering Frigga her sympathy.

Frigga, always perceptive in matters of her sons, had not seen this coming, and laid her hand on Sif's arm, doing her best to offer comfort in kind. "How is he?"

"He mourns for his brother. And... he misses her. The mortal. His... friend."

Thor's PoV

His mother's warmth lingering on the back of his hand, Thor made his way to the balcony, coming to a halt beside his father.

"You will be a wise king," Odin said, and all that once was gray was now gilded.

Even Thor's tongue was gilded: "There will never be a wiser king than you," he said, "nor a better father."

Odin looked out on the city, unresponsive.

"I have much to learn. I know that now. Perhaps, one day, I will make you proud."

Odin, then, turned, clapped his shoulder. "You've already made me proud."

It took a few moments for Thor's mind to clear itself, but once it had, he rushed to the jagged, reaching edge of the bridge and looked out into the Void at Heimdall's side.

"So, Earth is lost to us?" he asked.

"No. There is always hope."

"Can you see..." Thor bit his tongue, held back the question he truly ached to ask. "Her?"

"Yes."

"How is she?"

"She searches for a new path between realms. She searches for you."

Thor nodded. He hoped Jane succeeded; she, of all he'd heard of searching as she was, had come the closest.

That would have to be enough.

4016 words of story. Surely that's worth some feedback, right? We came to the end of the first movie! Loki's lost in space! Things have happened!

Please, review.

(Think of the children.)